Female orgasm, similar to epileptic seizure, scientists say

Scientists at the Rutgers University, New Jersey, US, say that the female orgasm is similar to an epileptic seizure. The conclusion was drawn after a test done by using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner to measure the changing level of oxygen utilization in a five-minute brain networking activity recording.

During the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, which took place in Washington, D.C. the researchers at the Rutgers University, New Jersey have presented their latest findings in regard to the female orgasm. They have recorded the brain activity for a period of five minutes, monitoring the changes in the oxygen utilization before, during and after the orgasm.

The volunteer for the experiment was one of Rutgers’s PhD candidates, Nan Wise, a sex therapist. “Secondary to an epileptic seizure, there's no bigger brain networking event”, she said in an interview to UK’s The Guardian. Wise added that the experiment is part of her PhD work. “It's my dissertation. I'm committed to it”.

The video footage consists in a series of fMRI snapshots that were taken a couple of seconds apart from each other. In the pictures showing 40 different brain regions on each side the oxygen utilization is showed in colors, from dark red at the beginning. As time passes, the red becomes orange, turning to bright white invading all the areas in the end, representing the highest level of cerebral activity.

The researchers say that finding how pleasure is obtained at a brain level can help in treating people who are confronted with a sexual blockage. “If we can learn how to activate the pleasure regions of the brain then that could have wider applications”, says Prof. Barry Komisaruk. Among other problems that could benefit from the findings are psychiatric conditions, such as anxiety or depression.